MBF Provides Loan to FAMA Publishing, Inc.

Press Release: MBF Provides Loan to FAMA Publishing, Inc., a Media Company Serving as a Cultural Voice for the Latino Community.

Date: August 27, 2015

Media Contact:

Linda Theander-Adam

MBF

(305) 379-7070 Ext. 201

MIAMI, Fla. – The MBF is proud to support FAMA Publishing, Inc., a media company that has served as a cultural voice for the Latino community in the U.S. since 1992. The company produces Descubriendo Historias, a 13 episode cultural show aired since 2013, a Hispanic magazine, FAMA Magazine, and website, FAMA Web.

Ileana Muñiz founded FAMA Publishing, Inc, in 1992, just six years after arriving in Miami from Havana, Cuba. It was during her Bachelor of Arts in Film and Theater at the Institute of Art (ISA) in Havana, Cuba, that her passion for culture and history developed. Once in Miami, she realized that the Latino culture had no media outlet. In 1992, she founded FAMA Publishing, Inc., to serve as a voice for the Latino community in the U.S. In the same year, Ileana also founded the nonprofit, OSMUS National Hispanic Art Foundation, to further her vision.

In 1997, Ileana’s love for art led her to New York City, where she founded and directed theEuroAmerica Galleries, located in Chelsea and Soho. Under Ileana’s direction, the galleries presented 200 art exhibitions and collaborated with more than 30 charities, including organizations such as American Red Cross, UNICEF, Covenant House and CASA Alianza – a nonprofit that works to rehabilitate street children in Latin America.

Alongside her mission to serve as a voice for the Latino culture in the U.S. and for other cultures around the world in her television show Descubriendo Historias (see below for clip from show), Ileana has been a strong promoter of women’s rights and opportunities throughout her career, working with organizations such as Miami Rescue Mission for Women and Children, Rocky Aoki Foundation, and the Women Venture Fund.

In 2005, Ileana founded FAMA Autos Mujeres Al Volante Award, a recognition given out every year during the International Motor Show in Detroit to recognize successful women working in the auto industry. In 2000 she also founded the FAMA Awards which recognizes Latino artists and leaders within the community. The initial FAMA Awards gala, in 2000, was presented by Hillary Clinton, who at that time was First Lady of the United States (see video below). Since then, a total of six FAMA Awards have taken place at NYC Lincoln Center and the Miami Gusman Center.

Ileana Muñiz is the Founder, Publisher and Editor of FAMA Magazine, www.famaweb.com, Digital FAMA and the Executive Producer and host of “Descubriendo Historias,” a 13 episode cultural show aired since 2013 on CNN Latino, MUNDO FOX and MEGA TV Direct TV.

With the support of MBF, Ileana is able to continue to grow her business and represent the Latino community and other cultures around the world.
The loan from MBF will spur FAMA Publishing’s growth from a traditional media to a modern publishing company and support our new venture producing content for online social media and television with the Hispanic TV series “Descubriendo Historias”. – Ileana Muñiz, Founder and Executive Director of Fama Publishing, Inc.
FAMA Publishing, Inc., is one of the 35+ minority-owned companies that the MBF has provided a loan to in the past four years in an effort to advance economic development in the City of Miami. Other companies that have received loans from the Foundation include Panther Coffee, Sugar Yummy Mama, FAMA Publishing, Two Coats Painting, Miami Smokers,Moonlighter and Bunnie Cakes.

Minority entrepreneurs have limited access to funding and the MBF aims to fill this the gap through the creation and administration of loan programs for minority businesses, through the creation of programs and educational scholarships for minorities, and by providing technical assistance to local organizations engaged in economic development.

The MBF, a City of Miami-based nonprofit established in 1986, has awarded 504 scholarships to City of Miami minority students attending Miami Dade College, Florida International University, Florida Memorial University and Miami Dade Public High Schools. In the last four years is has also awarded forty-one loans to minority-owned businesses that have helped create more than 200 jobs in the City of Miami, and created partnerships that have helped train more than 100 City of Miami minority business owners.